Plexii glossary
Cognitive load
The amount of mental effort required to hold and work with information at one time.
What it means
Cognitive load theory from education, with an Australian reference: the NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation review ‘Cognitive load theory: Research that teachers really need to understand’ (2017, education.nsw.gov.au) — g. on working memory’s limits), and Two practical halves: for teachers, worked examples and reducing split attention; for work, writing down what you are holding instead of keeping it in mind.
The term is most useful as a shared description. It does not remove the need to look at the actual task, evidence or constraint in front of you.
A practical example
A learner must remember a formula, find a value and switch between two pages; placing them together removes one demand.
Put it into practice
- Name the concrete situation before applying the label. Cognitive load is useful only when it changes a choice, boundary or next action.
- Make the state visible: write the owner, time, source or stopping condition down instead of relying on memory.
- Review what happened. Keep the part that reduced ambiguity and change the part that added ceremony without helping the work.
How it relates to Plexii
: keeping a task’s materials together means fewer things to remember; no claims of measured effect. Link unit plan and revision timetable.